


Asterisms

by Hezaia



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28322307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hezaia/pseuds/Hezaia
Summary: When you and your companion stumble upon an occupied cryo chamber in a seemingly abandoned spaceship drifting through space, maybe you should think twice about pressing that button?-Jan Russell's on an interplanetary quest to find out what happened to his best friend.Timothy Hearst's on the run from the law.Allen Walker's... semi-reliable transportation?
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Additional characters and tags will be added with future chapters

* * *

_“Hey…”_

_“What?”_

_“What is that?”_

_“What’s what?”_

_“That.”_

_“That? That’s a cryo− Shit.”_

_“What?”_

_“There’s a body in there.”_

_“A dead body?!”_

_“Not for sure. The ships systems are still running, and so is this pod, so he’s probably still alive. The question is, what do we do about him?”_

_“Jan, what is that supposed to mean?”_

_“The question is, do we press this button or not? This guy could be a dangerous criminal or something for all that we know.”_

_“Yeah, but why would a dangerous criminal be here?”_

_“This could have been a prison transport or something. Maybe this is the ship of the bounty hunters that caught him…”_

_“No prison uniform, no cuffs or anything.”_

_“Yeah, but they could’ve removed those when they put him in there. To prevent frostbite.”_

_“Why bother?”_

_“You know what, Tim? That’s an excellent point. Still, do we push this button or not? What if he’s dangerous?”_

_“We’ll put him back?”_

_“And if we can’t?”_

_“Tch, don’t underestimate me, Jan.”_

_“Well, if push comes to shove, there’s always the laser or the taser, I guess? And if neither will cut it, then there’s always C-3.”_

_“Heh.”_

_“Or booting him out into space.”_

_“…That was a joke, right?”_

_“Obviously. We’re not murderers.”_

_“So…”_

_“So?”_

_“Together?”_

_“Sure, why not? On the count of three. One, two−”_

* * *

“−three, four, five, six…”

Mumbling quietly to himself, Jan counted the tokens. In hindsight, he really ought to have gotten more of them, but money was tight enough as it was, and the current exchange rate left a lot to be desired. Rarely had Jan experienced such a temptation to simply use the credit card hidden on his person, because unlike some other places that he had recently frequented, this one actually accepted credit card payments – the inter-galactical variety, that is. But alas, he could not – not unless he wanted to give certain authorities connected to certain authority figures a heads-up in regards to his current location and recent activities, that is.

Then again, it was debatable whether or not said authority figures or the authorities connected to the aforementioned really gave much of a damn about him to begin with. Because he had been missing for a while now, and even if the school had managed to sweep the whole incident under the rug, someone back home still had to have realised that he was missing at this point. If the housekeeper had yet to check the lab for signs of life, then she ought to be fired, really. And even if she had somehow failed to notice the obvious – the lack of hammering and explosions and smoke among other things – the noticeable absence of such should have alerted the neighbours that something was afoot. Of course, even then, it was debatable whether or not any of them would see it fit to alert Jan’s father, since he could be pretty difficult to reach at times.

Anyways, it was also entirely possible that the man had already been informed but had simply failed to act upon it, seeing as to how Jan’s father could get seriously side-tracked even on his better days. Or maybe he had simply decided not to bother, confident in his now thirteen-year-old son’s ability to survive out in the vastness of space.

Because space was undeniably vast. And sometimes, this was a plus, whereas other times, it proved a major drawback. Because it took skill and knowledge and tech to navigate it, and those in possession of all three of them were few and far in-between, especially if one disregarded the pawns of the NWA, the New World Alliance.

Considering everything, life would probably have been a lot easier for Jan if he had simply decided to sign up for one of the NWA’s space explorations as opposed to plotting to run away from home, but hindsight’s twenty-twenty and whatnot. Besides, then as well as now, Jan did not trust the NWA. Just the scraps of information that Jan had managed to glean from the journals that his father had oh-so-neglectfully left behind in a hidden crawlspace in the family home had been able to convince Jan that the NWA was up to some seriously shady shit on the side.

Sure, Jan himself could be up to some pretty shady shit at times, but that was really nothing in comparison. The stuff that the NWA did was on an entirely different scale; Jan was thoroughly convinced of that.

In any case− “Six.”

The vendor levelled him with a rather unimpressed stare, repeating their previous statement. “Nine.”

Had Jan been the same as he had been about a year prior – a young genius with a credit card and few concerns about anything – then he would probably have taken it. Now however, Jan could only haggle, because while he needed those parts, he needed to buy other stuff as well. “Six and a half.”

“Nine,” the vendor repeated, lips twitching slightly.

Jan sighed and held up his fingers. “Seven and a half, and that’s my final offer.”

The vendor’s lips curled up into a wry smile. “Nine.”

Really? “Come on,” Jan said, pointing to the upper section of the market. “I bet I could get it for that much over there.”

Arms folded across their chest, the vendor merely smiled. “Over there is over there, and over here is over here,” they said, staring at him with one part irritation, one part amusement. “Besides, over there won’t sell to little brats.”

Not to little brats unwilling to provide proper ID at least, which was true enough – and quite frustrating as well.

“Fine,” Jan said, resigned. “But at least throw in an extra or something.”

The vendor smiled in a way that made Jan absolutely certain that they would just throw in some utterly unnecessary and useless thing like a souvenir or something, but who knew, really? Besides, if they threw in a souvenir, then perhaps Jan would be able to find some gullible fool to buy it at their next pitstop. One never really knew after all.

However, just as Jan was about to turn over the amount that had been agreed upon, his smartwatch pinged and started blinking, a small text message notifying him of a new voice message from Tim.

Struck by a sudden sense of foreboding, Jan turned down the volume and held the watch up to his ear as he pressed a button to listen to the message. And it was a damned good thing that he did, because if he had not, then an impressive string of expletives would have rung out quite clearly into the market. The vendor most certainly heard part of it though, their eyebrows rising noticeably. It lasted only for so long however, because soon, they put their hand back out, motioning for him to pay up or else. Honestly…

“My crewmates seem to be having some sort of situation,” Jan said. “Could you hold on to those thrusters for a bit? I’ll be right back.”

The vendor bared their teeth in what could only charitably be called a smile and held out their hand, beckoning. “Reservation fee, or they’re sold to someone else.”

Swearing internally but no less colourfully, Jan handed over a token.

* * *

Thanks to Tim’s location beacon, Jan quickly found them. Actually no, he found just Tim – Timothy Hearst, that is – fuming over at a nearby fountain, alone.

“Where is he?” Jan asked, because neither of them needed to be very specific on which ‘him’ they were talking about. “You lost him?”

_“I didn’t lose him!”_ Timothy snapped. “He got lost all by himself!”

Uh-huh. “Tim,” Jan said. “I told you to watch him.”

His ten-year-old accomplice scoffed at that. “Yeah, I did, but then the idiot decided to pick a fight with this dude!” he snapped, bringing up a hologram on his smartwatch.

A quick glance was enough to identify the source of Timothy’s panic. “…The Black Order, huh? That’s bad.”

_“Bad?!”_ Timothy hissed. “Try double bad, triple bad, quadruple bad! Don’t you know this guy?!”

Jan gave the hologram another look. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t. Why should I?”

“Ugh, never mind,” Timothy sighed, swiping left to bring up another hologram. “In summary, he’s seriously bad news! And his partner, this guy, is obviously no better! They nearly caught me back in Élysée! I only got away because some major shit went down, and then− Actually, yeah, never mind the rest! In summary, this isn’t any of my fault!”

Right… “In any case, we still have to find him. If the Black Order catches him−”

“But what if _we_ get caught!” Timothy argued, keeping his voice pitched fairly low. “ _You_ ’ll be fine; _you_ ’re just a runaway – I actually have a criminal record!”

Honestly− “You’re just wanted for theft and unlawful possession. Until it’s been established in a court of law, it’s not on your record.”

_“I’m still wanted!”_ Timothy hissed.

_“Yes, but not as yourself!”_ Jan hissed right back at him. “But if those guys knew about−!”

_“Yeah, no shit!”_ Timothy interrupted. “And that damned Allen went and picked a fight with them!”

Oh goodie. “With no provocation?”

“That guy called him _Beansprout_ and he just snapped!”

Hoh?

“Seriously though, I’m not his minder or anything! If you want to keep track on him, chip him or something!”

Chip? “Not a bad idea. I’ll consider it.”

After this was over, he would consider it; seriously consider it.

And in the meantime− “Let’s go.”

* * *

It had all begun when they had come to this planet.

No.

It had all begun when they had left that other planet.

No.

It had all begun when they had pressed that button.

No.

It had all begun when they had gone to investigate that odd cluster of space debris.

No.

It had all begun back in Élysée, on Terra-Gallia, Timothy’s birth planet.

No, in truth, it had all begun much earlier than that.

For Jan, it had all begun back at Russell Hall, back at Terra-Albion, with him finding his absentee father’s hidden journals.

His father, Jake Russell, was a scientist working for the Black Order, a subsidiary of the NWA. The man was something of a hoarder, and also the sort that took down notes on actual paper rather than on some type of computer or tablet. This practice was naturally frowned upon by the NWA, but amongst the scientists at the branch Black Order where he worked, it was not actively discouraged. This was likely due to the many, many, many times that an experiment gone awry had compromised hard drives containing some very, very, _very_ important data.

In any case, Jake Russell’s work had ultimately resulted in a whole lot of notebooks filled with more or less classified info, and given their continued necessity in spite of the relative illegality of their existence, the man had obviously had to store them somewhere safe, and in a place no nosy NWA bureaucrats would care to look.

And this, this just happened to be a hidden cache in Jan’s closet, because what kind of idiot would think about hiding sensitive info in that kind of place?

Still, thanks to that, Jan now knew a whole lot of things that were not included in the current NWA-approved curriculum. And thanks to his experiences in the last year or so, Jan knew even more.

That said however− _“Hey! Get back here!”_ −sometimes, Jan actually found himself wishing he knew less. It would allow for plausible deniability at the very least.

“So?” Timothy gasped as they turned another corner. “Any other bright ideas?”

Jan, busy with manoeuvring the hoverboard, was not really up to dignify that with a response and not just because he was busy, but also because saying his ideas out loud would directly compromise the element of surprise!

_“Shut up!”_ he hissed. “Why didn’t you tell me he was blind?! I just wasted a perfectly good flash grenade!”

Ah, so annoying. Still, if his homemade flash grenades would not cut it against the current pursuit, then that really only left one option, realistically speaking. But Jan was not about speak of it out loud, now that he knew that the enemy had insanely good hearing and excellent recall in addition to that. Because the guy had not only called their bluff as they had claimed to be innocent passers-by; he had correctly identified Timothy as Phantom Thief G through the sound of his voice and heartbeat alone.

Because yeah, Timothy Hearst was not just any bratty ten-year-old. Due to certain circumstances, he had been endowed with a certain power – possession – and due to other particular circumstances, he had come to put it to good use stealing things and selling them on the black market – which did sound rather nefarious, if one disregarded that it had all been for a good cause. Never mind all that though.

“Tim.” Jan motioned for the bag. “Execute plan C-3.”

* * *

Meanwhile, in an entirely different part of town, an irate black-clothed swordsman stood in the open plaza, glaring furiously at anyone who dared to as much as glance in his direction.

_“Whoa, Kanda, you lost him?!”_

The furious glare was immediately redirected towards the newcomer, a hooded young man wearing a similar uniform. Thin lips were pulled back into a snarl before the swordsman – Kanda Yu – angrily turned on his heel and stalked away, and the crowd easily made way, no doubt sensing the danger.

The newest arrival – Daisya Barry – did not appear to be particularly affected though, laughing as he followed suit.

Their quarry also laughed, but quietly, as he stepped out into the open not far from the spot the pair had just vacated, and tore off his wig, dropped the extra layer of clothes and wiped the hastily applied makeup from his face, saluting the group of street performers that had proven oh so helpful.

“Aw,” one of them said. “Leaving so soon? You’re pretty good. You sure you don’t wanna join up for real?”

She received a bright smile in return.

“Flattered, but not today,” the young man said, effortlessly tossing a piece of gold into their money jar. “Sadly, I’ve got prior commitments.”

Another performer laughed. “Not with those people, I hope?” he said.

He received a wry smile and a wave as the young man began heading off. He only managed to get so far however before there was a loud boom akin to a miniature explosion in the skies.

“What was that?” one of the performers asked, and they were by no means the only one, because that was no firework but a decidedly more potent and decidedly less aesthetically pleasing explosive.

“C-3,” said the young man, and mostly to himself. He reached into his small pack and pulled out some small object; it stirred, glimmering in the planet’s artificial sunlight. “Tim, go run intervention. I’ll give you a boost.”

Then – with no further ado – he readily launched the thing into the air. It spent a few seconds trying to regain its equilibrium, flapping its mechanical wings frantically before it became reasonably stable. And once it did, it appeared to grow bigger and also faster until it zoomed off in direction of the rising smoke. No one in the plaza had ever seen anything quite like it, and those who had seen the young man throwing it turned towards him with wide eyes and questions on their lips.

But the young man was nowhere to be found.

* * *

Over time, Jan had seen plenty of strange things; some of them in his father’s files and others with his own two eyes. He had not been alone either; Leo had been with him, up until the day he was not.

Leo’s mother had died, and some man had come to pick Leo up; not his father – possibly an uncle, but far more likely some sort of government official. With no father and no mother and no other relative willing or able to take him in, Leo had been taken away in spite of Jan’s protests; Jan had even stooped so low as to beg his father for help, but it had all been for naught.

Leo had simply smiled in the face of Jan’s tears, waving goodbye while Jan stood on the other side of the glass, demanding that they would still be friends no matter what and that they would keep in touch because Jan would most definitely come and get him.

But in the end, he had not, but not for lack of trying; Jan had scouted out every orphanage on Terra-Albion and Leo had not been in registered in any of them. The last trace Jan had found of him had been in the passenger ledger of a vessel headed for Terra-Gallia.

This had led to Jan partaking in a school trip to Élysée, the capital city of Terra-Gallia – He had gone on the trip with every intention of ‘getting lost’ and using the time to look for Leo.

But plans rarely survived their first impact with reality, and nothing had really gone according to plan. But Jan by no means blamed Timothy for that; it was hardly the other boy’s fault that his heist just so happened to coincide with Jan’s attempt at ditching the rest of the group.

Besides, with Timothy’s help, Jan _had_ been able to hack into the orphan registry and confirm that Leo was not in the system, which meant one or two things – neither of which Jan particularly liked.

In any case, there had been little time to pursue the matter further. A speedy getaway had led to them stowing away on a ship, and that in turn had led to them getting stranded in the galactical backwater planet known was Terra-Caledonia.

Of course, stowing away again would have been an option, but such endeavours did not always end very well for the stowaways in question. Also, they had figured that it would probably be for best to lie low until reliable transportation could be secured. Briefly, they did consider enlisting to work on a carrier. However, the sort of vessels that readily accepted children in their workforce were typically the not the sort that cared an awful lot about stuff like workplace safety and human rights and all that.

But now they had reliable transportation – Well, semi-reliable transportation.

“You’re late,” Jan said, holding on like his life depended on it – because _yeah, it kind of did_.

“Maybe, but I wasn’t too late, was I?” said their semi-reliable means of transport. “Besides, I’m here now, aren’t I?”

Jan had just the perfect retort for that, but he refrained in favour of checking on Timothy, who was unusually and unnervingly quiet. The younger boy had undoubtedly exhausted himself; this had been a trying day so far for all of them, but for him in particular. But he was still doing the same as Jan; hanging on for dear life because in-between touchdowns, the ground could be very far away. Maybe it was a tad undignified to cling to someone like a damned monkey, but it honestly was not that all that bad, considering the alternative.

As for Allen himself on the other hand, it was hard not to notice the bruised lip.

“Are you okay?”

Allen let out a slight huff at that. Then he smiled; if it must have hurt quite a bit, but it barely showed. “I’m fine,” he said, leaping over to the next building. “I just ate.”

In other words, Allen thought that he had enough energy to last until they made it back to the ship – which was good, but not really what Jan had been asking. In any case− “Your opponent; was he strong?”

“So-so.”

So-so? “Did you beat him?”

There was a mild snort at that. “Nah, but I got in a few good hits. Next time, I’ll put in more effort.”

Jan did not like the sound of that. “Stop trying to get us all arrested!” he hissed.

“I just saved you guys from being arrested though,” Allen said, and sure, he had a point. Still−

_“Timcanpy did!”_

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

_“There. Found it.”_

_“Huh. That doesn’t look like debris.”_

_“I never said it was. It didn’t display as a ship on the scan, so I just assumed. Maybe the transponder’s broken?”_

_“Transponder?”_

_“It’s a device that’s both a transmitter and a responder – when it receives a signal, it emits another signal in response; all ships are equipped with one.”_

_“Really? I didn’t know that.”_

_“See this? This is a miniature transponder; I made it myself. The range is somewhat limited, but if that ship had had a working transponder, then it would already have shown up on this screen here, see?”_

_“What about cloaking?”_

_“Cloaking? Well, if that was the case, then we wouldn’t see it, would we? As for the transponder, it could also be switched off. In any case, they won’t be able to detect us, not by radar at any rate.”_

_“You think there’s people in there?”_

_“Who knows? That thing hasn’t moved since we first laid eyes on it, so it’s possible that it’s empty.”_

_“And if it isn’t?”_

_“If it isn’t, then we’ve got these, no?”_

_“Well, I guess. What about leader and the others though? Shouldn’t we have brought the entire crew along to check this out, Jan?”_

_“Archie? Tch. Let me tell you something, Tim. Archie is a lot of things, but a good leader is not one of them. Archie has a bit of charisma, sure, but he’s a fool. And as for the rest, they are what they are. Now me on the other hand, I’m a genius. Not leader material per se, but certainly smart enough not to get myself killed the moment I step off planet. Now Archie on the other hand… Hand him a laser gun and he’d treat it like a goddamned toy!”_

_“Well… you’re not wrong, I guess?”_

_“Of course not. That said though, Archie and his lot do have their uses. They collect scrap material, which I need. Also, with them around making a racket, who’d bother paying much attention to the two of us?”_

_“Right…”_

_“We’re different from them after all. They have their dreams, wanting to become space pirates and to travel the galaxy and whatnot. However, unlike us, they were born and raised on this backwater planet and know little of what exists beyond it. Like, it’s not like I’d have anything against travelling the galaxy or anything, but… under Archie’s leadership, it simply isn’t feasible.”_

_“Feasible?”_

_“Realistic, that is.”_

_“Is that why you didn’t let Archie know about the ship?”_

_“Obviously. I’m not stupid. If I’d shown him the ship, he’d obviously get ideas. He’d want to dash right off into space without even securing proper supplies. I’m not sure he’d even check to make sure we’d have enough fuel before taking off. You know how he is, and the rest follow his lead. That’s why we’re here alone.”_

_“But…”_

_“Don’t worry. If the situation gets dangerous, then you can just leave me behind.”_

_“Don’t say that. Not even as a joke.”_

_“Right…”_

_“I’m serious.”_

_“Right…”_

* * *

“Allen, I swear to God, if you ever do something like that again, then I’m going to… do something we’ll both regret.”

The statement started out good but finished off weak, and the person he was addressing – Allen – glanced at him from on top of a steaming cup of instant ramen. Where had he gotten those things by the way? Because Jan knew for a fact that he had not bought any of them.

In any case, Allen did not seem intimidated in the slightest.

Sighing, Jan tried again.

“Okay, look,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. “Right now, I only have Tim’s – Timothy’s, that is – word to go on, and that is that you got called ‘Beansprout’ by long-haired pretty-guy and decided to fight him. _Why?_ ”

“Because he pissed me off,” Allen deadpanned, blowing on the noodles to cool them down a bit before stuffing them into his mouth, then opting to elaborate once he had stuffed his mouth full. “He had it coming.”

Feeling a spike in his blood pressure, Jan felt ready to hide his face in his hands and to take deep breaths and illegally acquired anti-anxiety meds. Because, what… in the name of the galaxy? “Did it even occur to you that it might not have been such a good idea to go and pick a fight with a member of the Black Order? Because _I_ do recall explaining to you – _extensively_ – why they ought to be avoided. _Do you?_ ”

There was a mild shrug at that; not even the slightest bit of guilt. Ah, Jan could have strangled him.

“Yeah, vaguely,” Allen said. “Besides, I did make an effort. But when someone just shoves into you and makes you spill part of your smoothie, then they deserve at least a snide remark. And if they answer back in kind, well, one thing leads to another, I guess?”

“Freaking maniac,” Timothy muttered from his spot off to the side. He seemed to be holding something in his hands; Jan’s old GameBox from the looks of it. But he could have it; Jan wasn’t exactly playing on that thing a lot these days anyways. But it had been in the bag he had brought along for the school trip, and as such, it was now on the ship, for better or for worse. Mostly for the better though, because it made for decent enough distraction at times; travelling through space could get pretty damned boring at times, and the company did not exactly improve things – at least not right at this moment.

Because, like, Allen was a fascinating person and all, but that in itself did not change the fact that he could act like a freaking maniac at times.

“Well, this freaking maniac successfully distracted an agent of the Black Organisation,” said the aforementioned maniac.

“Black Order,” Jan automatically corrected, wondering just how in the galaxy the aforementioned maniac managed to get the name of the Order wrong, all things considered. Then again, Allen’s background was by and large still surrounded by some degree of mystery, given the aforementioned individual’s funky memory and tendency not to overshare.

Then again, he had his reasons – _probably_ – and it was not as though Jan had shared everything there was to know about himself either.

Besides, Timothy was entitled to his share of secrets as well, even though Jan had over time been made privy to quite a few of them. It helped; having someone to talk to. It helped, but it only helped at times. There were things that Jan had not and would rather not discuss with Timothy, much like there were things that Jan had not and would rather not discuss with Allen, and vice versa of course.

Jan was still on the fence whether or not he ought to sound out Allen’s position on the history of human civilisation – specifically on the topic of human space exploration and colonisation. On one hand, the teen could probably provide a perspective that differed from Timothy’s, due to their vastly differing backgrounds and their direct or indirect exposure to the NWA-approved curriculum. On the other hand, though, well, Jan had by no means forgotten the nonplussed look he had received when he had first brought up the NWA.

That said however− “Hey, Allen. Can I ask you something?”

Allen let out a hum, indicating that he was listening. By now, he had finished with his ramen and had resumed his usual routine; polishing Timcanpy, the golden golem.

Jan paused a moment, considering his next move. Because he _had_ technically asked this question before, and Allen had been unable – or perhaps unwilling – to answer it then. But that was then, and now was now, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to try again. “Where are you from anyways?”

“Earth,” Allen immediately responded, as if that was a perfectly sensible answer. Except it really wasn’t, all things considered.

Because while Jan knew that, once upon a time, in a galaxy known as the Milky Way, a planet known by that name had existed for millions, even billions of years, he was also aware of what the records said, and many of said records were not NWA-approved.

“Are you sure about that? The records say−”

“−That Earth was abandoned once humanity had developed more reliable methods of space travel and new, life-sustaining planets had been discovered?” Allen let out a mild scoff, but failed to provide any info that Jan did not already have access to.

Jan considered leaving it at that, and then he reconsidered. “Official and unofficial accounts aside, what did happen? Was it the collapsing ecosystems, the worsening solar storms or the approaching asteroids?”

Or was the mass exodus actually due to a hostile alien takeover, as certain sources had claimed?

Because, like, Jan had been decidedly sceptical of that last theory, but then he had met Allen, and now he considered it plausible at the very least.

The aforementioned walking mystery was now frowning, appearing puzzled and growing increasingly distant. But he did that sometimes, and they were mostly used to it by now. Like, who even knew what was going on in that head of his, because he presumably had an at least semi-functional brain underneath that snow-white hair. Then again, considering the circumstances surrounding him and the state and manner in which he had been found, the possibility of some degree of brain damage could hardly be excluded now, could it?

With a sigh, Jan turned his attention back to the monitors.

* * *

Space was undeniably vast. When one was looking for places to disappear, it was great. When one was looking for things however, it was – generally speaking – quite frustrating. It was especially frustrating when one did not know exactly what one was looking for.

The whole thing with Timothy and then Allen and Timcanpy might have side-tracked him quite a bit, however, Jan’s fundamental goals largely remained the same: He wanted to find Leo, or at the very least, he wanted to find out just what had happened to him. Because Leo had been taken away, away to some place Jan could not reach.

But that was the old Jan. This was a new Jan, who had a small spaceship and a small and rather unique crew at his disposal. This was a new Jan – a bit older, a bit wiser, a bit more experienced and a whole lot more fed up with a lot of things, some of them NWA-related and some of them not.

Because while Jan was still a bit annoyed by the deliberate vagueness of the NWA-approved curriculum when it came to the origin of humanity and the planet known as ‘Earth’, it was only just that; something vaguely annoying, especially to someone of Jan’s intellect.

Still, fact remained that Jan had little attachment to a planet that had – allegedly – become uninhabitable long before he had even been born. If nothing else, then it served as an example of how the short-sightedness of certain groups of people would ruin everything for everyone else for the sake of their own self-interests. It – or rather the parroted version of it – also served as an example of the level of control that the NWA had over the information networks.

After all, while space was undeniably vast, communication in-between various galactic outposts was by no means impossible, even if longer distances meant more noticeable delays. However, since the NWA effectively upheld these networks, they could also – and _would_ also – limit access to what could be deemed sensitive info, or remove it altogether.

And, to be perfectly frank, Jan didn’t like that.

Who were they – old people of the most part – to decide what Jan was and wasn’t allowed to know?

All in all, it was likely this – along with a healthy interest in invention – that had initially steered Jan onto his path as a would-be scientist. Realising that he couldn’t trust the info released by the NWA, he had simply figured that he himself had to go out and find out the truth. And, in order to do so, he had obviously needed a ship.

But back then, with Leo on Terra-Albion, that had been just a distant dream. They had used to fantasise about it – Jan more so than Leo, and they had talked extensively about what they would do and what places they would explore. It had been playing rather than serious planning though, because even though the Russell family was both moderately rich and moderately influential, Jan would not have been able to use either his family name or part of the family riches to obtain the stuff he needed or wanted without raising red flags all over the place.

Besides, nowadays, the point was moot: Jan had a spaceship at his disposal, and while it wasn’t quite his, it was still free for him to use.

However, it was not having access to the spaceship that had granted Jan new perspectives, oh no; getting stranded in Terra-Caledonia had done that.

Calling Terra-Caledonia a galactic backwater was a bit unfair though. Because while Terra-Caledonia was closer to the outskirts than the centre of its particular galaxy, it was still a hub of its own, primarily for fishing. It also happened to be something of a dumping ground on the way to Terra-Albion, after the NWA had banned off-planet littering. Bigger ships dumped excessive loads in order to load up with fish, and smaller vessels in bad condition could be abandoned altogether if their former crews managed to hitch a ride off planet with one of the bigger ones. The scrap came from all around really, but a fair portion of it came from Terra-Albion, Jan’s birth planet.

Prior to ending up on Terra-Caledonia, Jan had not really given much thought to where things eventually ended up once they had broken down and were considered to be beyond the point of repair. Rather, he had reasoned that things were likely recycled; melted down and reshaped, reused. Some of it was, yes, but a fairly significant amount of it – even things that were just slightly old and worked fine otherwise – still ended up on Terra-Caledonia.

Jan had been horrified, knowing that a whole planet full of people had to live with and in cases off of the trash that his home planet produced. He had also been horrified to know that the fish he had eaten back home had originally come from such polluted waters.

But there had been good things too. Being stuck there had given Jan a whole new appreciation of a lot of things, as well as a whole lot of scrap material to experiment with.

As such, six months into getting stranded, Jan had finished building the first prototype of his future mobile suit. Building a spaceship had still been still on his agenda, but in order to do that, then he would have needed access to material not on the planet in question. Building a mobile suit had been a step towards obtaining said material, and testing out the suit in water had been one step closer towards testing it out in actual space. It had needed to be perfectly airtight after all, for perfectly reasonable reasons.

And then, on that fateful night, Jan had been testing out the newly installed radar and scanning equipment of his mobile suit, only to spot something. At first, he had simply believed it to be debris of some sort – part of the trash still floating around in outer space and posing a danger to anyone navigating through it.

And there had been debris, yes, but as he and Timothy had soon come to discover, there had been more than just debris, prompting Jan to investigate further. And it was a good thing he had, because if he hadn’t, then who knows how long that spaceship would have continued drifting through space.

In any case, Jan had had the foresight of not bringing the whole ‘crew’ along. Coming to Terra-Caledonia, he and Timothy had quickly become embroiled with the local gang of wannabe delinquents – Archie, Bob, Cheetah, Dan and Eric – but they had not exactly joined their clique, for obvious reasons.

Archie was the leader of said group; a kid with great ambitions and little common sense, which was rather unfortunate, because he could have proved a whole lot more useful to Jan if not for that. This was not to say that he and his group of friends had not at already proven useful to Jan though. Because there was strength and safety in numbers, and they had helped out with picking scrap and – usually unwittingly – provided enough of a distraction to divert attention from Timothy and Jan.

Of course, with Archie’s lofty dreams of one day becoming an infamous space pirate, perhaps it had been a bit on the mean side not to let him know about the spaceship. However, knowing Archie’s lack of common sense, it had simply been for the best. After all, Jan had once made the mistake of handing the boy a prototype laser gun, and that was not something he would like to repeat. Besides, it really didn’t take a genius of Jan’s calibre to know what would have happened if Archie had laid his eyes upon the ship; he would have dashed right off into space with nary a second thought, likely without even securing proper supplies. Jan was positive that the guy wouldn’t even have bothered to check if there was enough fuel before taking off, and wherever he went, the others would naturally have followed.

Not Timothy though, because like Jan, he was an outsider. And, while he was young and impressionable and impulsive, he usually had enough sense not to mess with Jan’s inventions; especially not with his mobile suit. Now Archie on the other hand−

_“Whoa! What is this thing?! Some robot?! Can it fly?! Can it shoot lasers?! So cool! I gotta get myself a piece of that!”_

−he and his lot were still back at Terra-Caledonia, picking scrap or playing soccer or throwing rocks at seagulls or whatever.

Sometimes, Jan did feel a sting of guilt over completely excluding the lot. It had been pretty selfish of him, sure, but he still thought that it had all been for the best. Sure, having a bigger crew would have had its advantages, but also some serious drawbacks. Allen already ate enough for three, and Timothy could eat twice as much as he usually did on days when he needed to replenish a lot of energy.

Having those thrusters Jan had seen at the market would have been good. However, seeing their rapidly depleting food supplies, maybe it was a good thing that he hadn’t gotten them in the end. This did not prevent him from groaning and hiding his face in his hands however.

Because he was thirteen, and way too young to be balancing this kind of budget.

“Ugh,” he sighed at last, looking towards the monitor again. “At this rate, we might actually have to resort to piracy.”

There was an amused snort at that, and Jan turned towards its origin, arching his eyebrow.

Allen, now grinning impishly, raised his hand, Timcanpy perching on it. “Waaaay ahead of you, Captain,” he said. “Tim.”

On cue, the golden golem opened its mouth.

Jan still had no idea as to why the thing had teeth, or even a mouth. But at that moment, it seemed like the lesser issue at hand. Because the golem opened its maw and began spitting things out – some coins, a few rings, a necklace, five jewel-encrusted pins and lastly, some very conspicuous silver buttons.

Had Jan not already given up on understanding how the golem could grow and shrink and just function in the first place, then he would have attempted to figure out how the thing had been able to store all of those things – some of them bigger than the golem itself.

But Jan had given up. At least for now.

“Wow,” Timothy said, his earlier exhaustion all but forgotten as he scurried closer to get a better look. Then he looked up at Allen, and his eyes were twinkling.

Should Jan be worried? Probably.

Would he be worried though? Probably not.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

_“Okay, so, result of preliminary investigation: There’s battery power, artificial gravity in place and no welcoming committee awaiting us. Looks fairly promising to me.”_

_“They could be hiding out, waiting to get the jump on us.”_

_“Fair enough. Still, I don’t think that’s the case.”_

_“Why not?”_

_“No need to lure us all this way. If they had wanted us dead, then they could’ve reopened the hatch while we were still in the cargo hold.”_

_“Jan…”_

_“Hm?”_

_“Why didn’t you tell me?! We could’ve been sucked out into space!”_

_“But we weren’t. Geez, Tim, would you relax? There’s air in here and it’s breathable. A bit stale, sure, but not hazardous.”_

_“Jan, you−!”_

_“Hang on. Did you hear that?”_

_“Hear what?”_

_“Shhh!”_

* * *

_“Hey…”_

_“What?”_

_“What is that?”_

_“What’s what?”_

_“That.”_

_“That? That’s a cryo− Shit.”_

_“What?”_

_“There’s a body in there.”_

_“A dead body?!”_

_“Not for sure. The ships systems are still running, and so is this pod, so he’s probably still alive. The question is, what do we do about him?”_

_“Jan, what is that supposed to mean?”_

_“The question is, do we press this button or not? This guy could be a dangerous criminal or something for all that we know.”_

_“Yeah, but why would a dangerous criminal be here?”_

_“This could have been a prison transport or something. Maybe this is the ship of the bounty hunters that caught him…”_

_“No prison uniform, no cuffs or anything.”_

_“Yeah, but they could’ve removed those when they put him in there. To prevent frostbite.”_

_“Why bother?”_

_“You know what, Tim? That’s an excellent point. Still, do we push this button or not? What if he’s dangerous?”_

_“We’ll put him back?”_

_“And if we can’t?”_

_“Tch, don’t underestimate me, Jan.”_

_“Well, if push comes to shove, there’s always the laser or the taser, I guess? And if neither will cut it, then there’s always C-3.”_

_“Heh.”_

_“Or booting him out into space.”_

_“…That was a joke, right?”_

_“Obviously. We’re not murderers.”_

_“So…”_

_“So?”_

_“Together?”_

_“Sure, why not? On the count of three. One, two−”_

* * *

_Over time, Jan had seen plenty of strange things, some of them in his father’s files and others with his own eyes. This was one of the latter._

_“Hey, hey!” Timothy was poking at the now unfrozen stranger. “Wake up!”_

_The stranger muttered something. It sounded an awful lot like “Ugh. Go away.”_

_“How about you go away instead?” Jan suggested, and that finally sparked some reaction, because the guy immediately sat up and blinked owlishly at them both._

_“What the fuck?” he said._

_Yeah− “That’s what we’d like to ask.”_

_“No really, what the fuck?” the guy persisted. “What’s the date?”_

_That was a perfectly valid question to ask, and an especially valid question considering the sheer amount of dust that had been covering just about everything._

_“Well, fuck.” Informed about the current date, the guy slumped back down, squeezing his eyes back shut in the process. “I’m not dealing with this shit right now.”_

_Uh… huh._

_“Is this guy for real?” Timothy said. “We just woke him from cold sleep and all he wants is another nap!”_

_Well− “Tim, cut him some slack, would you? He’s been cryogenically frozen for a long time.”_

_As for exactly how long, Jan was not yet sure. But judging by all the dust in the ship, it had likely been a while since the rest of the crew had abandoned it – that is if there had ever been other crewmates in the first place. There was after all the slight possibility that this guy had decided to freeze himself; pods like these typically did have a timer of sorts after all._

_Speaking of timers though, it was entirely possible that the thing had malfunctioned. That is, if it had ever been properly set in the first place._

_Anyways− “Let’s start with something relatively simple: Who are you?”_

_The guy opened his eyes; he appeared honestly puzzled by the question. But was it amnesia or just him being slow from getting defrosted? Or something else entirely?_

_With a sigh, Jan tried again. “Name, age, home planet, for starters?”_

_The stranger’s eyes flickered briefly towards him and then left him altogether. The stranger sat back up and turned his head, focusing his gaze on Timothy. “Are you Tim?”_

_Jan was not entirely fond of being ignored, but given the circumstances, it could certainly be forgiven. Besides, the stranger being focused on Timothy did give Jan ample opportunity to study him further._

_“Yeah, it’s a nickname,” Timothy said, a bit defensive. “What about it?”_

_Instead of responding, the guy turned his head in Jan’s direction. “And you?”_

_Jan didn’t flounder. Because why would he? “Genius Inventor Jan at your service. We found you while investigating this ship.”_

_The guy tilted his head slightly to the side, wearing a strangely friendly smile on his face. “Why?”_

_Really. “Why not? I’ve always wanted my own spaceship. And by that, I mean a proper spaceship, not my mobile suit.”_

_“…Mobile suit?”_

_Really? “…Exactly how scrambled were your brains when they put you in there?”_

_Because, while some disorientation was to be expected, this disorientation of this magnitude was a bit−_

_“Okay, so, not a doctor, but still a genius, so I guess I’ll handle it. I need to check your pupils.”_

_Cue another blink, this one slightly alarmed. “Why?”_

_Honestly− “Because I need to check just how scrambled your brains are. Like, I could technically also test by checking if you could walk in a straight line or carry on a conversation, but−”_

_Another blink, this one more confused than alarmed. “Isn’t the walking in a straight line something to check if someone’s sober?”_

_Well− “Funny you’d remember that when you can’t seem to remember your own name.”_

_Still, the human brain worked in mysterious ways and whatnot._

_“Allen.”_

_“Huh?”_

_“Like maybe. I’m not sure.”_

_O-kay. “Well, it’s a start.” And it most certainly was. That said however− “Mind if I check your pupils? I need to see if they’re dilated or not.”_

_“What happens if they are?” the guy asked, evidently wary now._

_Jan considered it, briefly. “Then I’d recommend you not going back to sleep, because you might get a seizure and suffer additional brain damage if you do.”_

_Because there was likely some brain damage, though the true extent of it was yet to be determined._

_“…I can’t sleep?”_

_Honestly− “You can sleep, but we’d have to wake you up from time to time – not every hour, but at least a couple of times. You might not sleep very well anyhow if you have a concussion, and you’ll probably be pretty tired for a while. It could last up to a couple of weeks actually.”_

_“You sound like you know a lot about concussions,” Maybe-Allen said, squinting at him quite a bit as the flashlight was turned in his direction._

_“I looked into it after I got a concussion a while back,” Jan explained, trying and failing to get a better look. “Can you like keep your eyes open for me? Because I can’t see shit if you keep squinting like that.”_

_“How did you get a concussion?” Timothy piped up, keeping a bit of a distance; pretty smart, because Jan was reconsidering just how smart it had been to enter the ship – not to even mention space – without even a makeshift spacesuit. Turns out he was a whole lot more reckless than anticipated, especially considering his now close interaction with some guy from who-knew-where who had been frozen for who-knew-how-long and could technically be carrying all sorts of contagions. Of course, the opposite was also true and probably all the more likely, but Jan was pretty sure that neither he nor Timothy had come down with anything recently. The same could not be said for Archie and the rest of his gang though, making Jan’s decision not to bring them along all the more justifiable._

_Of course, Jan had not exactly expected to find anyone onboard, much less anyone who had been cryogenically frozen for who-knew-how-long._

_Jan gave a dismissive wave at that. “One of my experiments went haywire. It happens,” Jan said, responding to Timothy’s question before turning back to ‘Allen’. “Dizzy?”_

_The other didn’t look up; he looked a bit out of it actually. “…I guess.”_

_Hm? “You’re not slurring your speech though. Does your neck hurt?”_

_“No.”_

_“But your head?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Is it severe?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“So severe it’s vomit-inducing?”_

_“No… I do feel pretty awful though.”_

_Yeah, and he was starting to look the part too._

_“Why?” Timothy piped up. “You looked fine just a minute ago.”_

_Honestly− “Tim, now’s not the−”_

_The sound of a door sliding open had the both of them snapping their heads around, reaching for their weapons; Jan for his prototype laser gun and Timothy for the taser. Because, better careful than sorry and whatnot, right?_

_Still, the thing in the doorway gave Jan a definite pause, because what− “That’s… a golem?”_

_It was a weird colour though, and with its wings and tail it was only a partial match to what Jan had seen in his father’s files, but still similar enough to identify with some degree of certainty._

_“And that is…?” Timothy said, not taking his eyes off of it – which was smart, at least relatively speaking._

_In any case− “It’s a solar-powered AI device used by members of the Black Order. But it’s a weird colour, so I’m guessing it might be custom-made. But why is it−?”_

_Because this ship held no hallmarks of the Black Order, because if it had had any, then Jan would definitely have noticed. So why would a golem possibly be−?_

_“Tim…”_

_Timothy snapped his head back around and made a startled sound, which made Jan turn around as well, alarmed by Timothy’s reaction as much as the sudden clatter behind them. “Fuck.”_

_‘Allen’ had slumped to the floor, apparently unconscious, looking decidedly worse to wear than less than a minute prior. What little colour had been on his face originally – not much, to be honest – had drained away, and Jan was stricken by the cold realisation that he might have actually up and died. Because what did Jan know about proper protocols when it came to dealing with people who had been frozen? Practically nothing, seeing as to how this was not a topic that was covered within the NWA-approved curriculum and also one that fell firmly outside of Jan’s scope of interests. Should they have left him there and gone to call for help instead? But there was no one on planet that knew squat more than either of them, so that would have meant−_

_“Jan!”_

_Heeding Timothy’s warning, Jan moved just in time to dodge a sizeable projectile; the golem was upon them and it was baring its teeth. Why in the name of galaxy did it have teeth?! Or a mouth, and now it was hissing too, and−_

_Timothy grabbed him by the back of his collar and actually dragged him, and Jan was too taken by surprise to do more than take a few stumbling steps back. His eyes did not leave the scene in front of him though; the golem was still hissing at them, baring its teeth and flapping its wings in a way that clearly promised violence. It did not pursue them though, and this really told Jan all that he needed to know._

_It might just be a stupid idea, but he still tore himself loose from Timothy’s grip and moved closer. Timothy hissed something under his breath, but Jan still pressed onward, even as the golem’s movements became increasingly erratic. It appeared to be watching him closely, using whatever sensor functioned as its eyes. It no doubt possessed some degree of intelligence, yes. Determining said degree could be tricky though. In any case− “Tim.”_

_The golem’s wings flapped an extra beat but it didn’t leave its position._

_Timothy meanwhile sidled up behind Jan’s back, evidently vary. “What?”_

_Jan wordlessly handed him the laser gun and motioned for him to step back. Disarming himself was an obvious gamble, but if Jan’s hunch was correct then−_

_Jan took one step and then another._

_No movement._

_Then he took a third step and quickly crouched down, putting his hand in front of Allen’s face. The clear puffs of air he could feel against his hand was a relief to say the very least, but−_

_He moved his hand towards the side of Allen’s neck; not his smartest decision, especially in hindsight. Because no sooner had he done that before there was a mechanical jaw full of metal teeth clamped around his fingers, and− “Argh!” −it hurt like Hell!_

_“Jan!” Timothy called, and Jan knew exactly what he was thinking, so he just shook his head, steeling himself through the pain._

_“Tim,” he then said, and as Timothy stilled, so did the golem._

_“Calm down,” Jan said, partly to them and partly to himself. “I’m not a doctor, but I’m trying to help him, okay? But to do that, I’m gonna need both of my hands, alright?”_

_The golem remained still for a moment yet, jaws still clamped around Jan’s hand as it most likely finished processing Jan’s words before deciding on its next course of action._

_Soon, Jan was allowed to reclaim his hand. It naturally hurt – bled quite a bit too for that matter – but Jan had had worse; he’d had far worse. That is, unless that golem thing had some serious space pathogens on its teeth and ended up giving him gangrene or something._

_“O−kay,” Jan said, taking a deep breath and steeling himself against the pain. “Just let me stem the bleeding first and then we can get to work. Tim?”_

_Both Timothy the boy and the golem reacted, solidifying Jan’s suspicion that the latter was also called ‘Tim’._

_The wound hurt, but Jan could handle it; it was a distraction, sure, but Jan had definitely dealt with worse. Also, Timothy helped him wrap it, all while throwing dirty looks the golem’s way._

_Jan couldn’t help but be amused by it, if only just a little. The situation as a whole was not at all amusing though. Because something was wrong with this ‘Allen’ guy, and while Jan wasn’t a doctor by any means, he still needed to figure out what was wrong and quickly at that._

_As things were, shock definitely couldn’t be excluded. There were no obvious signs of severe injury, but shock could be caused by other things as well, like extreme environmental conditions. Having spent a long time being cryogenically frozen and only now getting defrosted would probably have been enough to offset that kind of thing. ‘Allen’ did have a lot of the symptoms after all; abnormally pale skin, rapid pulse and breathing, nausea, dilated pupils, dizziness and so on._

_Of course, this could also be a case of a sudden drop in blood pressure – hypotension in other words; there was confusion, nausea, exhaustion and passing out without warning, and the risk of slipping into shock._

_However, there were also a whole bunch of other potential diagnoses, some more serious than others. And, as previously stated, Jan was a genius, not a doctor, so− Wait._

_Shakiness and weakness – Check._

_Fatigue – Check._

_Dizziness – Check._

_Irritability – Check._

_Anxiety – Probably check._

_Headaches – Check._

_Sweating – Check._

_Slurred speech – Skip._

_Blurred vision – Unknown._

_Confusion – Check._

_Seizures – Unknown._

_Passing out – Check._

_In other words− “It might be hypoglycaemia.”_

_“It might be hypo-what now?” Timothy repeated, while Tim the Golem flapped its wings and twitched its tail in a way that somehow managed to seem inquisitive._

_“Low blood sugar,” Jan said, nodding to himself. “In other words, he needs carbohydrates.”_

_Looking up, Jan was able to confirm something that he had already suspected; the obvious confusion on Timothy’s face. Ugh. Hadn’t Timothy heard the first part of what Jan had said? “Sugar, Tim. He needs sugar.”_

_Timothy moved slightly closer again. “I’ve got a ration bar?”_

_Hoh? “That’s good, but I’m not sure it’ll work quickly enough for−”_

_It would probably be better to dissolve some sugar directly into water. The problem was that while Jan had brought some water along as a precaution, they did not have any sugar with them, not even back in the suit. Still−_

_The ration bar vanished from Timothy’s grip, and by the time they snapped their heads around, the ration bar was already half-gone, and ‘Allen’ was chewing, watching them with eerie golden eyes – which was pretty damned weird, because just a minute ago, Jan could have sworn they had been silver-grey._

_“What the fuck are you?” Timothy asked, so he had probably seen it too._

_“Me?” ‘Allen’ said once he had swallowed what remained of the protein bar down. By now, his eyes had returned to their previous silver-grey state, making Jan wonder if he – and by extension Timothy – had somehow managed to imagine it. Probably not, all things considered._

_“Yes, you, ‘Allen’!” Timothy barked. “What the fuck was that?!”_

_Jan himself would also very much like to know that, but his attention temporarily drawn elsewhere. And it was a good thing that he paid attention, because that allowed him to move quickly enough to prevent ‘Allen’ from faceplanting on the floor as he dropped right back into unconsciousness._

_Maybe that was a good thing though. It gave Jan some time to think and process what the Hell had just happened after all. That said however−_

_Jan turned his head to the golem; it had undoubtedly watched the exchange, yet done nothing for some reason. Was it because it was unable to determine its next course of action? “Hey, is there a med bay around here somewhere?”_

_The golem – which in addition to a tail and a mouth also had a set of four short stubs that seemed to act as a kind of rudimentary limbs – lifted one of its short appendages and pointed towards the door it had originally entered from._

_Jan motioned for Timothy to go and check it out, which he did, quickly able to confirm that the room on the other side of the door was apparently the med bay. It kind of made sense for the med bay to be close at hand though; the people who didn’t make it in the med bay could be put in cryo for temporary storage, and anyone who had had to be cryogenically frozen for some reason would probably require some type of medical attention after emerging from such a state._

_“So…” Timothy said. “Should I just possess him or…?”_

_It might just save them the trouble of having to move him. That said however− “Better not. Let’s just drag him.”_

* * *

Coming to think of it now, things had certainly changed since then. Granted, some things remained largely the same and all, but−

“Allen?”

“Hm?”

“What are you doing?”

The walking mystery teen – currently seated in the captain’s chair on the bridge, flipping through a notebook of some sort – lifted his head slightly and turned it slightly in Jan’s direction. The bridge was only very dimply lit, but Jan could see just enough to make out the basic shapes of things. Well, those and the clearly glimmering eye regarding him. Granted, Jan could not see it very well, but could he feel it? Definitely. This was by no means his first rodeo though, so it was easier to steel himself against his instincts; they were telling him to shut up and run. And he had done so, once or twice. But for some reason, he kept coming back, and since ‘Allen’ hadn’t killed him yet, it was a whole lot easier to rationalise that he wouldn’t. Jan shouldn’t though assume it though. He really shouldn’t.

“I’m reading,” said the other.

“Don’t you need more light for that?” Jan asked, tempting fate.

This made the other turn around fully, chair and all. This time around, there was no mistaking the glow in his eyes and the vaguely elongated pupil. “I have excellent night vision.”

Jan saw no real reason to doubt that. And why would he, when there were so many other things to doubt? “No offence or anything, but are you even human?”

The eyes narrowed considerably, and the pupils shrank. It was difficult to tell for sure in the dimness, but Jan was pretty sure that they were now perfectly split like those of a cat. And that, if nothing else, was a distinctly non-human trait in his book.

“For calling yourself smart, you’re amazingly dumb,” the other said, turning back around. It was obvious that he did not consider Jan a threat, and why would he? He was obviously the biggest threat around these parts after all. That said however−

“For calling other people stupid, you’re pretty ditzy yourself.”

The chair swivelled back around, and it was as though the room was growing darker. Jan could feel the oppressiveness of the other’s aura, and found himself immensely aware of his own body, his own breath, his own heartbeat, his own mortality.

And then, in the next moment, the darkness receded and the other turned back around, offering up a snort and a dismissive wave. “If you weren’t such a convenient babysitter, I would’ve killed you by now. Now run along before I change my mind.”

* * *


End file.
